Mason City and Clear Lake Iowa Trip

So this weekend I went on an adventure.  I got into my 59 Chevy wagon and went down to Mason City and Clear Lake Iowa (only a two and half hour drive from us).  Unfortunately it was a hot weekend and my wagon does not have air conditioning so it was quite a hot journey and while I did try to search out some antique stores on the drive they led me nowhere but lost on dirt roads by corn fields and cow pastures.  So on I went to Mason City.  The purpose of this trip was to meet up with some other vintage loving indivuals from the Midwest (and the Netherlands) that I know from the forum the Fedora Lounge .  If you have never visited the Fedora Lounge I highly recommend it as it was actually what led me to the blogging world.  I found the fedora lounge about a year  ago when I was looking for more information about vintage hair styling.  I found that and whole lot more information to fuel my love of all things vintage.  Now on the lounge I personally prefer to area for ladies called the powder room but after this trip will be investigating other areas more as I have made more friends outside the powder room.

Here I am by my car in Mason City wearing by the way my Swirl dress I had just on in the mail as I was leaving for my trip.  It was very hot this weekend in Iowa so I couldn't stand have my hair on my neck so I also am sporting a new snood in the pictures as well.

The first stop we made was in Clear Lake at the Surf Ballroom.  If you are not familiar with the Surf this was the last concert that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper played before their ill fated plane crash. The ballroom originally built in 1933 burned in 1947 and was rebuilt in 1948.  This is a wonderfully preserved old ballroom with most of its authentic features still in place.  I tried to take some pictures for you on the inside but silly me I did not have my camera only my cell phone and it was not well it enough to do it justice but if some of my friends send me some of their pictures of the inside I will be sure to post them.

  The final picture is inside the dressing room (which is surprisingly small by modern standards) and our group picture.  We got lots of questions about what event we were in town for or if we were in a play.

I found clear lake to be a great little town with an old main street that while many building not still in their original function are still standing and many have been turned into antique stores which is what we were doing there antiquing.  The photo was of a local theatre that looks like it used to be the opera house in town.  Mason City also has some great attractions like Frank Lloyd Wright walking tour but it was really too hot for it this weekend so we chose the air conditioned antique malls of clear lake instead.  Overall it was a fantastic weekend and I hope to visit this area again in the future when the weather is perhaps more favorable.